


Goodbye, El

by serendipitous_rambles



Series: Stranger Prompts [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, F/M, and it has a happy end though because i hate mileven being sad, i hate angst but i wrote some, prompt from tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 06:39:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14231502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipitous_rambles/pseuds/serendipitous_rambles
Summary: Hello,can I ask for a prompt? Mike read one quote by a philosopher named Nietzsche that said that hope is the worst of all evils,because it only extends one's agony. Mike mull over that and seeing that all his friends are moving on with their lives and he's tired of hurting and so he's finally ready to let El go. He asked Dustin and Lucas(Will was in the lab) and they performed a funeral ceremony complete with flowers by the lake where Mike falls. And each said their farewell.- prompts from tumblr





	Goodbye, El

**Author's Note:**

> **Hello,can I ask for a prompt? Mike read one quote by a philosopher named Nietzsche that said that hope is the worst of all evils,because it only extends one's agony. Mike mull over that and seeing that all his friends are moving on with their lives and he's tired of hurting and so he's finally ready to let El go. He asked Dustin and Lucas(Will was in the lab) and they performed a funeral ceremony complete with flowers by the lake where Mike falls. And each said their farewell.**  
>  (Cont) I’m the same anon who requested a prompt awhile ago,I forgot to add that after the ‘funeral ceremony’,they reunited with El in byer’s house where she killed that demodog and hurled it in the window. Ok,that’s all thank you so much!
> 
>  
> 
> -  
> (I changed it slightly so that it takes place in the woods just because I feel it’s where they met so it has more emotion if that’s ok?)

353 days. It had been 353 days since those dreaded words. He’d never given up hope, never let his mind wonder over the possibility that she really was gone. But it’d been too long. If she was coming back, she would have by now. Things were too crazy that if she was alive, she would have come back by now.

Mike hated himself. Hated that he was even considering this, but he couldn’t keep this up. He was hurting. So much. And maybe…just maybe…a funeral would be a way of moving on. Of healing. If he just accepted it, maybe he could finally have peace.

“You sure?” Lucas rested a hand on Mike’s shoulder. He wanted to bring Max, but Mike begged that it only be him, Lucas and Dustin.

Mike looked at the small bouquet of flowers tightly crumpled in his hand. “I, I have to…” He whispered, looking straight ahead into the woods at Mirkwood. “She deserves a proper goodbye.”

Lucas and Dustin exchanged a sad glance with eachother before following Mike deeper into the woods. Lucas pulled out his pocket knife and carved a small “E” and “L” into the bark of a tree Mike had picked out. They stood for a moment in silence before Mike placed the flowers at the stump of the tree.

“Can I…can I have a moment alone?” He wiped a tear from his freckled cheeks.

“Yeah, take all the time you need buddy.” Dustin squeezed Mike’s shoulder before turning back towards the main road. Lucas did the same before a final glance back at the tree.

When they were out of sight Mike broke down, collapsing to the floor. He hadn’t really cried since the night it happened. He’d simply bottled it all up, releasing it in the form of shouting back at teachers and graffiti on the bathroom stalls. But now it was like a switch had been flipped. He sobbed and screamed, the pain had finally become too much. He hit his hands against the tree before burying his head in his hands.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered. “I’m sorry El. I promised. I promised you everything and I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t. It’s all my fault. I should’ve done more.”

The rational part of his brain knew that there wasn’t anything he could’ve done. She’d been holding him back, but even if she hadn’t what could he have done? But that didn’t stop the guilt.

“I…” Mike so desperately wanted to say those words. He hadn’t known what he felt at the time, but he knew now. He thought he would have years before he said it, times when he would say it and see her smile back, saying it to him. But that could never happen. “I promise, that….that I’ll always love you.” He almost laughed. It sounded so weird. But yet…he knew she was always the one he wanted to say it to. She would always be his first love and there was nothing that could change it. “I love you, El.”

* * *

Mike grabbed a candle stick. It was stupid but he couldn’t just go against whatever was attacking them with his fists. A candle stick was better than nothing.

They’d returned to the Byers’ house after Mirkwood. None of the boys wanted to speak about it, deciding to leave it as a tender moment of peace. But now that was interrupted with the Demodogs outside.

Mike felt his heartbeat in his throat. A Demodog crashing through the window. No…he only knew one person that could do that, unless it was something worse than a Demodog…

But the lock began to open by itself. And Mike couldn’t let himself hope. No…not again. But it disappeared when his eyes met hers. Tear stained and nose bleeding. Mike dropped the candle stick, never taking his eyes off hers.

“El?”

“Mike.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've been getting a few prompts lately on my tumblr (@serendipitous-rambles) and thought I should probably start putting them up here. I love getting prompts so don't hesitate to send any!


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